During the next few weeks, I will be writing about what has happened to the role of the church in politics and dissent. This discussion will be informed by an assumption that I’ll state plainly here: I do not believe that there can be any abiding movement for social change in this country without leadership and support from the church. As I wrote last week, part of the problem with activism today, especially on the left, is that it mostly results in large-scale flareups that quickly die out. What I’ve seen in the past decade of reporting on protests is that activist groups, whether they are purely grassroots or have been assembled by non-governmental organizations and nonprofits, do not have the proper economic, human, and organizational infrastructure to keep a movement going, especially at scale. (In fact, part of the problem with modern protest is that it mostly consists of big marches, which, while stirring, rapidly dissipate after everyone goes home and posts their photos online.) The Sanctuary Movement, in contrast, did not travel through street protest and direct confrontation but through existing, well-populated, and tightly knit faith organizations that believed in a common mission that came from on high.